The big thing about this tournament is that Madrid is situated at an elevation of 646 meters (2,119 feet) above sea level, so players have to acclimatise themselves to the change in altitude, and also the way that that affects the speed of the ball since it makes it travel faster through the air. Now this year they've got blue clay to contend with as well, and I've read that it's a faster surface than the red stuff, despite les deux messieurs Français in the video claiming there's no difference. Could be a very interesting tournament!

But point I was trying to make OSS was that if people like the arrogance of smugfed and Nole it wouldn't be their (erroneous) perception of Andy's arrogance, which turned them off him. I absolutely agree on how people misread him though perhaps these recent interviews will help change that at least among those who read/see them.Sorry don't know the answer about Madrid - is there nothing on the tourno's own website yet? Just had a look myself but it seems to have everything but - v confusing

Thanks Aileen. I imagine the players are already there then trying to acclimatise to elevation and blue clay.

Another reason the blue clay is unpopular is because the top players, including Andy, feel that it's detrimental to have a change of colour immediately after Madrid, when they transfer to Rome, because the ball is seen differently depending on the colour of the court and they won't have much time to adjust to that should they go deep into the tournament here.

I was surprised by the positive comments I read too - do you think the great British public is finally seeing Andy for what he is?? Was it just me not paying full attention when I watched the interview c/o someone's posting or were there bits in the transcript that weren't in the interview (and vice versa)? I don't remember the bit about crying in his Miami hotel room. My heart went out to him. I hope that helps those 'fans' who attack Andy after a bad loss like that to realise just how awful it is for Andy himself and it's not that he's simply not trying hard enough. The more interviews I read with Andy the more he comes across as a normal human being rather than a star and that is one of the reasons I like him so much.

Ruthie - there must have been two interviews with David Frost. The intro to the one published here says "the scene of our get-together was Queen’s Club in London" - and there was a picture of the two them there posted on facebook.

The one filmed for Al Jazeera was quite clearly in Monte Carlo!

For all the complaints about "the media" I think there have been a lot of fair and good interviews and articles recently. Some people just don't want to know, and write their horrible comments anyway, whatever the article says, but they're not really worth bothering about. Nice to see some appreciation for Andy in the comments and ratings after this one though.

Ruthie - there must have been two interviews with David Frost. The intro to the one published here says "the scene of our get-together was Queen’s Club in London" - and there was a picture of the two them there posted on facebook.

The one filmed for Al Jazeera was quite clearly in Monte Carlo!

That is really weird, Elena. I've never listened to the video, so just assumed the Mail article was the transcript of that.

Yes Queen's should be a 500. Absolutely ridiculous that it isn't given its prestige value. Maybe prestige alone counted for something years ago, but things have moved on in the tennis world.

^^ Loved that! The only one I got right was Britain's place in the medals' table in Beijing. Not sure why Andy felt so embarrassed except that, as a sportsman, he perhaps felt he should know the all answers.